I’m always returning home with some sort of token from my time spent outside. Leaves, rocks, tree branches, and moss; these materials have been gathered over the past decade from the deserts of Jordan to those of Utah valley, and from lush forests, flora and fauna in between.
For me, nature has always had a way of evidencing the divine. I chose to incorporate organic materials into this work to underscore the divine source of all creation and strive to honor the worth that resides within each individual. Each simple leaf or petal however small, fragile, or seemingly ordinary is actually completely unique from any other creation that has ever existed, even from any other substance similar to it. And so these organic treasures collected take on new life. Even before incorporating them into the work, each petal or seed pod collected spent time being examined closely, being admired, and then rather than discarded or left to decompose were kept. Being set apart and encased in this work for a new purpose insists upon the rediscovery of the ordinary.
